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“Yes, just this morning. Evidently, he wasn’t terribly surprised that we decided to keep the children. He’s offered to write up the paperwork for the adoption.”
“That’s very kind of him. We should have them over to our new home once we find one.”
“We’ll find one. Our finances will be pinched, though, without the income we’ve been getting here, even after we sell Arriss House. The new house will be smaller. Much smaller.” He leaned closer. “With less need for servants,” he whispered.
“They all come with us,” she murmured back. “We’ll save money by hosting fewer soirees.”
“Because we’ll have fewer friends.”
She nodded. “I wrote my parents and told them everything. I don’t expect to hear back from them for some time.” Her mother would be full of “I knew it” and her previous “some women aren’t meant to be mothers,” but Lady Anne could put a cork in it, the gunpowder cat. Ha. She’d learned some new things herself.
“Likewise. I have no idea how my mother and father will react.”
Looking up at him, she sighed. “I hope you at least put the blame on me. There’s no reason your parents should be angry with you.”
“We are partners,” he stated, as if that explained everything. In a way, though, it did.
As they watched, Powell appeared in the garden. The children set down their bundle, and after a moment of speaking, George held out his hand to the butler. To her surprise, Powell shook it. To her even greater astonishment, the butler took Rose’s side of the sackcloth and helped George carry it toward the house.
“It’s good to see the entire family getting along,” Will said dryly, making her laugh.
“You weren’t playing on my sympathies, then,” a gravelly voice came from the doorway.
Gasping, Emmie let Will go and spun around. “Your Grace?”
The Duke of Welshire walked into the library as if he owned it, which technically he did. For once, her first thought on seeing him wasn’t to recollect which lie she’d last told so she could keep her stories straight, but rather, how disappointed Powell would be to have missed admitting the duke to the house.
He glared at her as he crossed the room, ivory-tipped cane in one hand. “I reckoned you’d be sitting here, nothing packed, figuring I’d send word that you’d softened my heart and I’d decided to let you keep Winnover,” the duke said, joining them at the window. “Nonsense that that would be.” He looked out at the garden. “What’s that?”
“George and Rose are returning all the items they stole from the house,” she said.
“They stole from you.”
“Well, yes. We told the children we were borrowing them for eight weeks, and that we would find a good home for them after we returned from your party. I imagine they were making plans on the chance they didn’t like the home we selected. There was some worry over a pig farm, as I recall.”
Her grandfather looked at her. “You’ve changed, Emmeline. I don’t like it.”
“Yes, but I like me much better now, so I’m not apologizing.”
He glanced toward the window and back again. “That little brute called me a Captain Huff.”
“It means ‘bully,’” Will supplied.
“I know what it means.” The duke harumphed again. “The minute you left, Penelope came and found me, yelling about orphans and cheats. Your cousin demanded I give her Winnover Hall.” He scowled. “That’s what you all want me for, isn’t it? The things I can give you.”
“That’s why most of us come and see you when you ask, yes.” There didn’t seem to be a point in lying now, Emmie decided. She’d had her fill of it. “You can be unpleasant.”
“I’m old. It’s expected.”
Had that been humor? If so, she didn’t quite know what to make of it—or him. “But not necessary,” she said after a moment.
“Ha. Shows what you know. I’m having Christmas at Welshire this year, for the entire brood, hens, vultures, and the other carrion eaters. You’ll come.”
It wasn’t precisely an invitation, but it was unexpected, nonetheless. “We’ve ruined your legacy and embarrassed you in front of the ton, have we not?”
“Yes, you have. You, at least, are still family, though, Emmeline.”
“We’ll consider it. If we do join you, we’re bringing the children. And there will be rules about the behavior of your legacy toward them.”